My little princess' favourite foods

One can sometimes tell what kind of food my princess likes.. Generally she eats quite slowly but we can see that she speeds up when we place her favourite foods in front of her.

Children need to be trained from young to eat healthy food. My little princess was not allowed to have french fries, soft drinks and junk food (chips, chocolate, ice cream, sweets, lollies, etc) until she was about 3 years old. She had her first french fry during her friend's birthday party held in McDonald's. Each kid had a Happy Meal which consisted of a cheeseburger/chicken nuggets, french fries and juice/soft drink. We didn't really want to make a special request to replace the french fries with apple slices as we usually do when we bring her to McD's. We also let her have an apple juice instead of the milk we normally order with her meal.

Up till today, she doesn't like soft drinks as she doesn't like the burning sensation down her throat but like every other normal kid she loves most types of junk food like chocolate and ice cream. She loves potato chips and popcorn too but we try to control her intake of all unhealthy snacks. Not letting her take them at all might cause her to crave for and binge on them when she has the chance so we figured the right way would be to let her have them but in limited portions. Recently I found out her love for fairy bread which is somewhat unhealthy due to the sprinkles which are made of sugar but I reckon her having them once in a while is acceptable.

During dinner, she also has her favourites like white creamy pasta with cheese, koay teow, wantan noodles, and certain types of vegetables like corn, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber and lettuce, although we insist she takes all types of vegies which are available for the meal. She had also developed a strange liking to spring onions and doesn't mind having lots of them on her rice or noodles. Eggs in all forms are also one of her favourites and she often asked me if we were having them for dinner. She also loves to have soup with her meals, like ABC soup and even takes most of the Chinese herbal soups which we cook, including ginseng (if it's not too bitter) and also bah kut teh. I also found that she likes sushi, which pleases me because her dad and I love them too..

Nowadays I try to include dishes which she likes in a meal to increase her appetite and also to try and train her to eat faster as I don't think she will have meal breaks in school in future as long as the ones she takes at home. I'm not even sure she finishes her food in preschool at the moment. Just a few days ago, hubby was working late so little princess and I had a quiet dinner at home. I cooked rice for her with a hard boiled egg, and stir fried some chicken pieces with garlic, thickened up the sauce with a little bit of cornflour and stirred in some fresh cucumber after switching off the stove. This proved to be a dish she liked.. and she did finish up her bowl of food in a reasonable amount of time. She went for the hard boiled egg first and finished it up so quickly before I remembered to take a pic with the egg..

Father's Day 2009

Yesterday 6 Sept was Australia's Father's Day. Here's wishing my loving hubby a very wonderful Father's Day and also to my dad, although I had rung him duing the Malaysian one in June... sorry for forgetting sometimes, dad...

Little princess and I did a little bit of planning and got her daddy a soccer ball and a card. I also made him one of his favourite (but unhealthy) breakfasts: 出前一丁餐 蛋 麵 Nissin Demae Itcho noodles with fried egg and luncheon meat. After breakfast, we spent some time at home going about our own activities.. me on the internet, and little princess playing with her dad. We then went out for lunch, and later had a drive down to the south, Noarlunga Centre where there was a big Toys r Us store.

When we arrived, she was sleeping so we went to the Colonnades Shopping Centre to have some afternoon tea. We went to Gloria Jeans and ordered hot chocolate (by this time she was awake, so we ordered 2) and a latte for her dad, along with a cheesecake slice to share.

After tea, we took a stroll in the shopping centre then went to Toys r Us. She kept reminding and asking us when we're going there, impatient little monkey. A new Spotlight store (mom, will bring u there next time :-) just opened next to Toys r Us and I checked out the new store before joining the 2 of them in Toys r Us.

When we left Toys r Us, it was still too early for dinner, so we took a scenic drive along the coastline but it was too windy to go down to the beach. Instead, we stopped at this unique playgound made almost entirely from wood, the Onkarparinga Adventure Playground. It was the fruit of a volunteer and charity project. Little princess had a fun time there with daddy until the rain came and we had to leave. We went for an early dinner at Jimmy Deane's. It was sports pub/bistro type of restaurant. I ordered the seafood platter while hubby had the mixed grill and a beer. The little one just ate off our plates, as she usually does. She enjoyed herself at the restaurant too, as they had a corner for children's activities like colouring and playing with puzzles.

He was happy with the relaxing day.

Our lunch date

      

3 weeks ago, hubby and I had a lunch date up on Mount Lofty, fine dining in the Summit restaurant. We had always brought visitors up there for the panoramic views of the Adelaide city but never stepped into the café/restaurant there. 

It was a relaxing day for us with the little monster in preschool. The food was good, and we had afternoon tea at Jenny’s Gourmet after that, not on Mt Lofty, though, it was after the drive down from there. We had some nice desserts there, a Portugese tart and a blueberry friand to go with the latte and hot chocky.

Fine dining at the Summit Mt Lofty was not much different from dining anywhere else except for the view which could only be seen on a clear sunny day in the daytime…

We ordered an entree to share: Sauteed prawns in garlic cream sauce with saffron rice. The texture of the creamy white sauce was just right and the number of prawns was quite generous for an entree

I had my usual pick, something with seafood: Seafood Linguine with scallops, mussels, squid, white fish and prawns tossed with soft herbs and fresh chilli. It's a welcome and refreshing change from the normal red marinara sauce which normally accompanies seafood pasta. Hubby had a his usual pick too, a meat dish: He ordered a pork cutlet with baby spinach and sweet potato. We also had the rocket, walnut & pear salad with blue cheese vinaigrette on the side.

My mom

I heard this ad being run on radio by a local telecommunications network regarding how it’s time for people to ring their moms just to let them know that they’re being loved and remembered, and not to receive calls only when their children needs help.

This ad contradicts the mere phenomenon of all reputable restaurants being booked out on Mother’s Day each year. Or should I say complement… are mothers only appreciated on a single day in the year?

I would like to dedicate my first blog entry to my mom, who celebrated her birthday recently but I was unable to be with her. I sent her a Japanese apron, for her love of the Japanese culture, and hope it will make her happy and that she would find a use for it in her hectic lifestyle occupied by family, friends and craftwork (which can be admired here: http://sumire-craft.blogspot.com/)

Mom, I would like you to know that we think of you always, and we love you.